The Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) in association with the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) will organise a series of seminars in different parts of the city on "export opportunities for pharma SMEs." The first of the series will be held in Chennai on October 4.

Pharmexcil SME committee chairman SV Veerramani said that the aim of the seminar is to shed light on the available export opportunities for the SME sector in various pharma markets in the world. Though there are several opportunities in this field, the manufacturers are mostly unaware of it. The seminar will go a long way in providing a right platform for disseminating information to the small and medium manufacturers in this regard.

After Chennai, seminars will be organised in Delhi and Hyderabad. In the seminar, the manufacturers will be provided comprehensive information on how to begin export to different pharma markets in the world. The information that will be provided in the seminars include global scenario of pharmaceuticals, requirements of exporters & opportunities of SMEs, development of export markets by SMEs, product registration - how to prepare dossiers, how to face audits from overseas inspectors, export marketing & pricing, banking, documentation & shipments - do's & dont's, financing the SMEs and Pharmexcil services - making use of the same.

As part of its efforts to provide the first-hand information on IPR related issues prevailing in other countries, Pharmexcil had on July 11 established 'Patents Facilitation Centre' in Hyderabad. It will establish such centres in Mumbai and New Delhi soon.

'Patents Facilitation Centres' will be a big relief to the pharmaceutical companies, especially to small and medium scale units wanting to export to such countries where the IPR related information is not readily available. In the absence of knowledge about the laws prevailing in these exporting nations, the companies very often land up in infringement of laws which lead to prolonged legal battle which the small and medium companies cannot afford.